On the Scene: SPACE 1026’s Charles Schulz exhibit
by BRADY RUSSELL -- Philadelphia recently hosted an exhibition called "This is a Love Letter," of notes and drawings by Charles Schulz to a mistress in Philadelphia. The show was held at SPACE 1026, an artist space and gallery connected in its own way to comics history. Founded by young artists from Providence, SPACE 1026 was founded to be Philadelphia's own Fort Thunder. The gallery and workspace at 10th and Arch Street has been going more than 10 years. SPACE 1026 is one of the most interesting forces in Philadelphia's art scene.
Continue ReadingProto-Peanuts strip reveals Charles Schulz was still perfecting those punchlines
Via Robot 6, word that Heritage is auctioning off an early strip by Charles Schulz that would appear to be part of a developmental period between Lil' Folks and Peanuts, which launched in 1950.
Continue ReadingRIP: Bill Blackbeard
Comic strip historian and pioneer Bill Blackbeard has died at age 84, it has been reported. Blackbeard had been in a nursing home for some years, and passed away on March 10th. As the outpourings of appreciations have shown, Blackbeard was, perhaps more than any other individual, responsible for the emergence of comic strips and (by extension) comic books as a legitimate source of art to be treasured and preserved on an institutional level.
Continue ReadingRogert Ebert finally wins the New Yorker Cartoon Contest after 107 tries
After 107 entries, writer/tweeter Roger Ebert ha finally won The New Yorker's cartoon caption contest, Robert Mankoff reports. He also notes that it akes practice to make perfect:
Continue ReadingMike Keefe wins 2011 Pulitzer Prize
Editorial cartoonist Mike Keefe of the Denver Post has won this year's Pulizter Prize for cartooning. He won the 2011 John Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition earlier this year so he is on a roll. His home paper reacts here. A complete list of winners can be found here.
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Joan Hilty launches website, relaunches webcomic
Before she was a much admired editor at DC and Vertigo, Joan Hilty was a talented cartoonist, and somehow she managed to keep both running for nearly a decade. She's just launched JoanHilty.net to showcase all her skills. The site includes new episodes of her strip Bitter Girl, excerpt above.
Continue ReadingI know you are already tired of Charlie Sheen but…
In the spirit of Cthulhu Family Circus and other great remixes, Jon L. and Chris D. present Sheen Family Circus. In case you have been in Shaolin seclusion this week, actor Charlie Sheen has been on a manic-phase media run with a series of hyperventilated interviews highlighting our new found media ability to watch famous people pathetically and tragically act out right in front of us. As distasteful as it all is...these quotes are comedy gold.
Continue ReadingKaboom! announces new Happiness is a Warm Blanket Peanuts graphic novel
It's the first ever Peanuts graphic novel, Charlie Brown! Last week people were speculating over the announcement that kaboom! -- BOOM! Studios' new all-ages comics imprint -- would be publishing something Peanuts-related. Was it strips reprints? Comic book reprints? What? The reality is that it's an ALL NEW adaptation of a new Peanuts animated movie, Happiness Is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown, which Warners Home Video is releasing in March.
Continue ReadingSneak peek: Mickey Mouse as you’ve never seen him before
...unless you read old comic strips. Fantagraphics' Floyd Gottfredson reprint project was a big news item at last year's San Diego, and you can bet that the book (due on April 15th) will get people talking some more. FBI released a pdf of the promo materials and here's a sneak peek.
Continue ReadingUniversal Uclick to syndicate United’s comic strips
United Media, the syndicate behind such beloved comic strips as Pearls Before Swine and Get Fuzzy (above) and scores of other great strips of the past, is outsourcing its comics syndication business to Universal Uclick, according to a press release. In syndication terms, this is as if DC suddenly outsourced its publishing to Marvel. New York-based United and the similarly named but Kansas City-based Universal uClick -- which is owned by publisher Andrews McMeel, were long two of the three biggest comics syndicates -- King Features is the third -- and oversaw the immensely lucrative and popular icons of the comics pages for decades.
Continue ReadingEXCLUSIVE: Preview of Miss Fury from the Library of American Comics
Tarpé Mills is a name well known to comics historians, not only as one of the best of the female cartoonists of the war years, but as the creator and artist of Miss Fury, one of the first successful superheroine characters, which ran for nearly a decade as a sunday newspaper strip. It was a lively blend of outre characters, adventure and naughtiness. This April Dean Mullaney's Library of American Comics is reprinting the best of the strips in a deluxe volume complete with an introduction by comics historian Trina Robbins. Mullaney provided a desception of the volume and this preview for our Anniversary week:
Continue ReadingRemake of ANNIE on the way from Will Smith
Variety confirms that everyone's favorite orphan is getting a reboot courtesy if Will Smith's production company, with daughter Willow Smith set to star. Smith's production company is teaming with Jay-Z to form a new movie-making joint venture and ANNIE is on the list.
Continue ReadingVermont names Cartoonist Laureate: James Kochalka
By Jen Vaughn -- What do you do with a man with a wild mind of his own and a pair of drawing hands that just won't quit? You make him KING. James Kochalka is the one of forerunners of autobiographical diary comics with his syndicated comic, American Elf, which is also available online and began way back in October, 1998. He is also the creator of other excellent comics like irreverent SuperF*ckers and children's books like the Johnny Boo series and most recently, Dragon Puncher. His comics are published by Portland-based comics publisher, Top Shelf.
Continue ReadingThe Book Report: Bargain Bin: Books
We continue our series on cheap, obsolete media formats by showcasing a technology little improved in two thousand years. In an age when technology gets tossed aside in favor of the Latest Thing Next Year, is it any wonder that books are finally becoming quaint antiques, reminiscent of an earlier, less complicated age? But don't worry, bibliophiles! Just as there are still markets for mangles and typewriters, so too will a market for books exist in less developed cultures! As the book market in the U. S. slowly shrinks and shrivels, numerous bargains will appear, like the ones below!
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